The subject application relates to document scanning, and more particularly to transparently embedding scanner signature and other metadata into a document.
Although there has been research in the field of copier identification, scanner signature has been seldom visited, if at all. Copier signature techniques usually use repeated dot patterns that can be embedded in a printed image to record the state of the machine or other information about the printer or copier. In general, multifunction peripheral (MFP) products do not embed scanner signatures within the scanned document. This may be due to information losses when converting the document from one file format into another (embedded into a file header) or during compression (embedded into the bit stream).
When employing a scan-to-file technique, it is desirable for a file to be easily authenticated into a repository. It may be undesirable to permit an unauthorized user to dump files into a file system, but it is often desirable to store scanned files in a secure directory where only authorized users have access. Previous solutions involve storing personal or group “templates” that a user sets up and retrieves in a user interface on a multifunction device. For instance, a pool of templates setup by a system administrator can allow users to enter information such as URL's, network addresses, IP addresses, applications, passwords and the like to gain access to a repository. Other approaches attempt to use a paper UI such as SmartSend™ to encode the same information on piece of paper using glyphs. The paper sheet is scanned ahead of the document, is parsed, and sets up the authentication needed to get the document to its intended destination.
The office marketplace today is demanding “Graphics Arts” level of image quality at lower price. Single-pass segmentation that has been traditionally performed has its limitations. Autowindowing is a well-known method for segmenting image data into windows and for classifying the windows as typical image types. Autowindowing techniques include making two passes through the image data. Though autowindowing solves the problem of generating high quality copy output, it is still expensive to implement in an office image path. With Document Store & Recall features being implemented in several office products, the need to reproduce high quality output when exporting documents between devices is becoming important as well. One important issue associated with exporting autowindowing results between devices relates to the need to store and pass full-page tag information (typically several bits per pixel).
Accordingly, there is an unmet need for systems and/or methods that facilitate overcoming the aforementioned deficiencies.